Number NINE...

And the winner is Number NINE!!  Yay!!  Number Nine.

Tell number nine what she has won, Bill!

Right, Kathy.

Number nine has won an all expense paid trip

for the

Bingston Monkey Boys!!

(yaaaaay...and the crowd goes crazy)

The Bingston Monkey Boys 

will be bringing their unique brand of

Tibetan humor

to the home of

...

...

...

...

.....

.......

......

FAIRY YELLOWBUG QUEEN!!

Yay!!!

Email me your address please.

The boys need (kneed?) to come SEE you...

bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

( I randomly assigned numbers to everyone that wanted to be part of this drawing.  

Then I used the Random Number Selector and randomly wrote this post. )

Monkeys(?) and A Gruesome Giveaway

I'm running behind.  Will do the drawing Monday night.  You have one more day, kids!! 

Here's the story:

Several years ago I was wandering through our local flea market. 

 I came upon a gentleman selling beads. 
More often than not you see the same sellers at our flea market.
Especially, the bigger ones that set up stands.
I had never seen this man before.
Ever.

 He had quite a spread.  It was all laid out on a large table full of bead trays.

 The seller claimed to be from Tibet. 

Judging by his accent, his appearance and his small stature I tended to believe him.

 He was selling a vast array of some amazing beads.

 I purchased these two skulls.

They are beads.

They are 2 inches and quite large.

 As he was wrapping them up he said,

 "Those are hand carved monk knees." 

Thinking he had said monkeys I just smiled. 

They didn't look like monkeys but I wasn't going to argue.

He persisted. "Monks carve their bones into intricate objects 

when one of them has passed on. 

Those beads are carved from monk knees."

 I don't know that this is true. 

They are definitely bone.

And, I have to say

they look like knees.

I try not to think about it.

Smiling.

Knees.

Toothsome, even.

But

Knees.

 That's all I can tell you.

It does make an interesting story. 

And, by the way. I've never seen this man at the flea market since.

So...

Here's what we're doing.

Leave a comment about 

The Bingston Monkey Boys

and..

?what?

I have to call them SOMETHING.

Leave a comment and I'll pull a name Sunday night.

Sunday

October 23rd.

I want these bad boys

out of my house.

They can come visit

at YOURS!!!

I've Been To Oz, With the Gypsies!

I was abducted.

By

The Flying Monkeys!!

No. Not really.

But, Oz has been busy.

The wicked witch, Elphaba,  AND the flying monkeys

have kept me busy.

Turns out that she's actually a GOOD witch.

At least to me. (wink, wink) 

And, the flying monkeys?

They are really just misunderstood.

Yes, they are!

They aren't cowardly like the lion

but truly are just as sweet.

I've been staying up late making jewelry.

And it appears

(whispered)  I may be a tad "touched."

I've been sifting through books and books

hunting for words.  

Special words.

I have lots and lots of

Blood.

SO much blood.

Which doesn't seem to lend itself to Christmas jewelry.

Gypsy.
That's another good word.
People like gypsies.
True story:
We were always warned about them
They'd show up in the lower fields
on my grandfather's farm in the summer.
We weren't allowed to play down there
when the gypsies were in town.

If we were caught going down to the lower field
we were threatened with a spanking.
I always thought secretly
"at least the gypsies wouldn't spank us."
I wasn't afraid of no gypsy!

These are nice gypsies.


I made this gypsy necklace.
Then someone asked nicely
so I made another.
The gypsies it turns out
aren't so scary either.

Want to see something really scary?
Hee-hee-hee

These are really, really large beads
And
honestly, they kind of freak me out.
I put them for sale in my Etsy shop.
But, I think they freak out other folks, too.
If they don't sell by the end of the weekend
I'm
going
to
give
them
away!
Stay tuned.
I'll tell you the story.
And it won't be two weeks later!
I'll be sharing the story  this coming week.

AND
We'll have a give-a-way.
That is if you
want their
creepiness
in YOUR house.

BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA

Just Stampin' Away

I love Etsy.

I have met some of the greatest people

since opening my little shop.

Remember when I said that someone had mailed me this?

Well it turns out that she was one of my Etsy customers

who just happens to work for one of the largest stamping companies around.

She sent it to me thinking that it could make some cool jewelry.

I was so surprised! And, thrilled.

Well,

I have been having a blast.

You use those stamps

and

this.

This crazy stuff stamps on everything.

So,

I did!

This is glass.

I haven't decided what to do with this, yet.

I was just tickled to death that it didn't smear.

I have actually never used StazOn before.

I had it in my suitcase of ink.

What?

You don't store your ink in a suitcase?

I store TONS of stuff in suitcases.

Back to the ink...

Which means I purchased it at some point.

Some sort of project in mind, no doubt.

And there it sat

Languishing.

Waiting...

FOR THIS!

I stamped this silver disc.

First I lightly sanded the disc.

Then I stamped it.

But, I don't own any of those little acrylic blocks

I did it using this.

I used the plastic lid of another stamp pad!

I didn't have the acrylic block.

Turns out -

It doesn't matter!  

Didn't need it.

This worked

like a charm.

Speaking of charms,

I stamped this beat up piece of copper that I had.

Then I took the stamped bits

and made jewelry.

THE BLACK SPARROW

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

The spider is my favorite

I took out some hostilities

on a square piece of copper.

Stamped it with the new stamps

and

I ended up with this.

It's very cool.

Stamps and metal.

It's a good thing.

(sorry, Martha)